Tommy Lee Sent To Jail for 6 Months

Tommy Lee Sent To Jail for 6 Months

Tommy Lee Sent To Jail for 6 Months

CYNTHIA L. WEBB

May. 21, 1998

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) _ Tommy Lee was handcuffed and sent to jail Wednesday to serve a six-month term in a felony spousal abuse case.

Lee pleaded no-contest last month to charges that he kicked wife Pamela Anderson several times while she held their baby son.

The judge also gave the Motley Crue drummer three years probation and ordered various conditions that could bring three more years prison time if violated.

Judge Lawrence J. Mira said the judicial system should have been tougher sooner. He listed incidents dating back to 1983 in which Lee was given no more than probation.

``What I see here is a very clear _ disturbing in my judgment _ pattern of conduct in which otherwise resolvable issues are handled with violence,'' Mira said.

Lee, 35, listened quietly, wearing a black suit and white dress shirt. A colorful neck tattoo and spiky hair were the only hint of his heavy metal background.

Anderson, a former star of the ``Baywatch'' TV series, was not in court. She made a plea through her lawyer that her estranged husband not go to jail, urging counseling and probation instead.

But the judge threatened to give Lee another three years prison time if he violated other sentencing conditions.

He must donate $5,000 to a battered-women's shelter, avoid drugs and alcohol, stay at least 100 yards away from his wife, attend anger management classes and undergo random drug tests. Lee also may not possess firearms and must perform 200 hours of community service.

``He's obviously very sad, he's going to be away from his kids and that's the biggest thing, what he really cares about,'' defense attorney Charles English said.

Lee was arrested in February after his wife called police and accused him of kicking her in the back and buttocks as she held Dylan, then 7 weeks old.

Anderson had a broken fingernail and red marks on her back, police said. She filed for divorce within days of the attack. The couple married in 1995.